Best upgrade path?

With the release of Mountain Lion, my current mac is now out of spec. It's still probably too awesome to be retired, but I'm looking through what my possible upgrade options are, if I'd like to stay with the times.

With the updated graphics card, I got a mini display port on it. So I also have the Late 2008 24-inch LED Cinema Display.

So the machine is solid, and performance wise could take more RAM and be happy for a while yet. But its also Probably overkill for what I do nowadays. The hardest I push this thing is running Diablo 3, or recording some tracks in Logic.

Looking as Apple's current offerings though, I feel like I'm gonna get stuck with compromise regardless of what I look it (not interested in laptops).

No current machines look to have MDP, and are all moved on to Thunderbolt for video. I assume they make adaptors for this, but am I taking I hit to anything other than ugliness?I could go the MacMini route and it will likely do what I need, I'd just have to do the adaptor thing. Or use the fact that it has native HDMI and use a spare 32in HDTV? Intriguing for daily work?It looks like I could get quite a bit more spec-wise out of the iMac offerings, for storage and for performance, but then I'm also paying for a new screen, and really, the LED Cinema is still quite nice.A new MacPro is pretty much out of scope, based on budget (cuz I couldn't convince myself to just buy the base model =) )

So, if you were me, and were gonna pick a path, what would it be?1) Mid-High iMac, and forego the existing monitor2) Maxed out MacMini (say so, if there is a reason to use the server model if I'd ditch the server OS) with an HDTV3) Same as #2, but just eat it and use a TB to MDP dongle

I'm essentially looking for "most bang for my buck" for occasional gaming and audio work. I don't need to have 90 fps or anything, but I'll be a bit bummed if I can't run my WoW on high without getting choppy rates.

Hrm, Interesting. The model ID of this one is MacPro2,1. Though I am certain it was purchased in early-mid 2007. When I look at the About This Mac it just says "Mac Pro" and doesn't give the year, as newer machines do. Same thing If I check on the machine via AppleCare support page. I'll have to dig around more.

Edited: To add that I checked the system profile, and I am not currently running 64-bit Kernel and Extensions. I couldn't find a definitive article on Apple's site that states whether my model can or can't. Just that some of their computers defaulted to 64, and some didn't. However, if I try to boot my machine in 64-bit mode (by holding down the 6 and the 4 keys, per Apple), if my MacPro is capable of running 64-bit kernel, it should.

Even with booting as suggested, I'm still not running in 64 mode, so I think I'm S.O.L.

If I were you (and I am not), I wouldn't replace that Mac Pro right now. It will probably be a while before applications start to require 10.8, so you'll be ok on 10.7 for now. And the current Mac Pros aren't that great, but Tim Cook promised something better "later next year", whatever that means. I also wouldn't get an iMac, for fear of high resolution ("retina") versions coming out within the next year.

I'm revisiting my old thread, because I never took any action on it almost a year ago =)

I'm still thinking of replacing my aging Mac Pro as detailed in the OP. I just don't do hardly any home computing any more, so I'm thinking of just switching it out to a mac mini (and using my existing monitor), or to an iMac to get a retina screen. The MP is old, loud, hot, and I think is a major contributor to my electricity bill (I leave it on 24x7, as it does media serving in the house, torrents, etc.

so.

iMacmini with old monitormini with monitor

those seem to be my choices. What would you pick these days?Or, given the comments at the latest Apple earnings meeting, would you just sit tight and see what the next products will be?

I'm not in a hurry; I happen to have a little extra $$ on hand at the moment.

I have a 2011 Mini, and they are brilliant little machines, so one of those with your Cinema Display gets my vote. The 2012 model is a bit of a step back, as there is no longer a discrete graphics option.

The mini is a good little machine, there are no adapters required to use it with the LED cinema display. a 16GB ram upgrade is less than $150 from other world computing. It's also quiet and easy on the electricity.

Since Haswell is coming soon you might want to wait for a mini to be based on that, the graphics improvements are support to be very good.

With the sale of your mac pro, you could possibly move to the mini server which has a quad core i7 chip and two internal HD's.

The current Mac minis all use integrated graphics. It's much better than integrated graphics of old, but you still might want to check out some benchmarks for the games you're likely to play. If you're playing stuff that's a bit older, you'll probably be fine, but newer stuff you may not be happy with it.

As for screens, the 24" LED Cinema is still a pretty nice display. Unless you feel the need for a bigger screen, I'd say keep it — mini-Displayport is 100% compatible with Thunderbolt equipped Macs, no need for an adapter.

The new iMacs are great (typing this on a 27"), but may be overkill for you. You get a lot of bang for your buck (both in screen real estate and performance), but it's a lot of cash to spend vs. just getting a Mini, and we're unlikely to see retina iMacs any time this year.

I'd say get a Mini and use your current display. Spend a bit to upgrade it to an SSD — for everyday use, that's the best performance upgrade you can get, and if you don't mind installing it yourself, you can get better performance for cheaper by going with a third party one.

So, based upon my own research, and some of the comments here, I went the Mini route.

I ordered a Mini Server edition (I dunno that I'll sport the server OS off the bat, but I've been meaning to poke around on it at some point).

I bumped the specs to the 2.6 quad i7, but went with the standard 4GB RAM and the dual 1TB 5400rpm drives.I then went ahead and ordered a 16GB memory upgrade from OWC, as I've always liked them and the pricing is wayy better than Apples. I didn't spring for an SSD yet; I figure it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to swap out one of the two drives at a later date; but I didn't want to cough up more dough at the moment.

I plan on just hooking the thing to my existing monitor. Now all I gotta do is do some organizing and cleanup on my existing drive(s) so that data transfer is easier. Though I'm already considering getting an enclosure, either NAS or direct) to pop the 4 drives out of my old tower into.